Vibration damping by enhancing of magneto-rheological damper performance using novel smart fluid

The objective of the present work is to improve the speed and vibration characteristics of tracked vehicles via a semi-active suspension system that uses a Magneto-Rheological (MR) damper. MR damper is designed, manufactured, and tested with different harmonic excitations. The MR damper reliability under high-frequency stresses is considered in the mechanical design phase as well as the configurations and dimensions of the damper. Two fluid samples DELTA and GAMA are prepared, which differ in carrier fluid dynamic viscosities to have different rheological properties and tested to determine the dynamic characteristics of the damper. The damper’s ability to isolate vibration is measured by MTS. The investigation performed not only clarifies MR fluid characteristics but also proves the fact that the fluid is non-Newtonian with good rheological properties. One of the two fluid samples called DELTA is found to have the required properties. The MR damper filled with this DELTA shows a significant increase in damping force according to the excitation current and is much higher than the conventional passive suspension damping force. The proposed damper can cope with the increase in both magnitude and frequency of the input, which represents the speed of the truck and roughness of the road. Upgrading the suspension system of the vehicle from a passive damper to a manufactured semi-active MR damper with MR fluid DELTA can increase the damping force that the passive damper produces by 207% in compression stroke and 136.2% in rebound stroke at the same testing conditions.